The Jackass in black
by MarenMary93
Summary: 2016 reboot fic. From prompt(s) Gib Anonymous. While on a mission Jack manages to get injured, but he doesn't tell Mac, because there are bad guys at their heels... Hurt!Jack, Jackass!Jack, Angry!Mac, Worried!Mac
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so this is a mix of 2 prompts, or nudges? IDK…**

 **One is from Gib, and I should have done something about that a long time ago… I mean it was posted in a review on the 23** **rd** **of December…** _It was for me to do something about Jack's choice of wardrobe. Dark colors, tactical… You know… Jack's style…_

 **The other one, from someone who would like to stay anonymous is…**

 _Hey, I was wondering if you could do a story where Jack and Mac are trapped somewhere where they can't get help, and Jack gets injured trying to escape from where they are at (your choice) by tells Mac he's fine. Then later Mac finds out that Jack was really injured and surprised that he managed to keep it a secret/ not tell him. You can decide how it ends. Sorry if it's not that much information, but it would mean a lot to me if you could write this. :)_

 **Okay, now… I hope you enjoy!**

MIDDLE OF FREAKING NOWHERE, NEW ZEALAND

Jack knew they were trapped, they had enemies circling all around them.

"Good news is, we can attack in all directions…" Jack drawled as he tried to climb down the cliff towards Mac and his backpack.

"We're encircled Jack, there is NOTHING good about that!" Mac growled back, "We're screwed!"

"Heyheyhey…" Jack warned, "It's not all bad!"

"Tell me ONE THING that's not BAD about this situation!" Mac challenged.

"I can give you two."

"Okay?"

"One; We haven't been shot at, yet…  
And two; We're not in an office, pushing pencils…"

Mac couldn't help but laugh at his partner's honest reply. "Just watch out so you don't jinx us…"

Just then, someone to their left started firing at them.

"YOU HAD TO?" Mac yelled as Jack let himself drop down the last ten feet.

"Sorry…" Jack replied with a slight grimace, "Didn't mean to…"

"You good?"

"Yeah, let's get going!" Jack said and shrugged on his shirt and backpack again. Hoping that Mac hadn't noticed the real reason he had let himself drop the last stretch of climb down.

"You cold?"

"No, but we'll be running through thick bush. Don't want my arms all scratched up…"

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Jack wanted to scream so badly. His left shoulder was on fire. He lifted a few fingers to his shoulder and grimaced when they came back red and slick with blood. He offered a glance down at the bleeding area, noting that his sweaty black shirt covered all traces of the injury.

He clipped the backpack in front of his chest, hoping to take some of the pressure off of his shoulder. The bullet had hit right by his collarbone, and he was willing to bet good money that it was shattered. Or at least had a couple of good cracks in it.

"Hurry up Jack!" Mac called over his shoulder, "We've got to gain some distance!"

"Comin'" Jack called back as he dashed through the thick bush. Gritting his teeth against the pain in his shoulder. It didn't take long before he figured that hooking his wrist in the sternum strap helped a little.

"You're falling behind!"

"Said I was coming!" Jack growled back, "Just focus on finding a way outta here!"

"You said it yourself! We're surrounded!"

"I know, I know…" Jack strained to keep his voice even and without traces of pain. "Just keep moving! Or find a hiding spot!"

"Considering that th…" that was all Mac managed to say before Jack cut him off.

"Yeah I know! They're almost as good as me at tracking! I KNOW!" Jack rumbled, still running as fast as the vegetation and his injury would allow him.

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Mac came to another cliff, this one was just as steep, and maybe a few feet longer.

He tossed his backpack off his shoulders, and fished out the rope. He looped it around the tree trunk, and tossed his backpack down in front of him.

Even though he didn't enjoy heights, he was a skilled climber, and the decent took him no time at all.

"Okay, now it's your turn!" Mac called up to Jack, waiting for his partner to follow him.

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Jack looked at the hill. It was just short of vertical. And the wound to his left shoulder rendered his left arm pretty much useless.

With a harness, this would have been easy. Well, at least as easy as anything ever got for him. But without… Jack wasn't sure if he would make it down the cliff without injuring himself further.

Or wait?

IMPROVISE.

Instead of shrugging out of his backpack, Jack clicked open the buckle at his hips. He stepped over the rope, so that he had one leg on each side. Then he picked up the rope both in front and behind him, and secured it with his waist strap. He let the tail end hand out on his right side, that way he would be able to use his right hand to break. Then he secured the rope in front of him with his chest strap. That would work as his left hand keeping the upper part of the rope close to him.

Then he set off of the cliff.

It was just as difficult and painful as he expected. At one moment he feared coughing up chunks, given the pain he was in, it was a very real possibility. That, and blacking out… Also a thing he wanted to avoid, if possible.

"Why didn't you throw the pack down first?" Mac asked as Jack quickly freed himself from his makeshift harness.

"Errr…" Jack hesitated, "I forgot…"

"I thought it was impossible for you to forget to make yourself lighter when you did anything like climbing or rappelling!" Mac shot back as he gathered up the rope. "Thought that was second nature to you!"

"Guess I suddenly thought it was too far to toss the backpack…" Jack suggested and scratched his chin, "Honestly, Mac, I have no valid explanation for it…"

Mac shrugged, "Anyway… Those guys won't be far behind. Better get going…"

Jack didn't argue, and as soon as Mac had his own backpack on his back and started jogging ahead of him, Jack strapped his left wrist against his chest again.

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"Hey, man…" Mac put one hand on Jack's right shoulder as they stopped to take a sip of water "You're pale…"

"Probably low blood sugar…" Jack answered and rolled his eyes, "We haven't eaten today… At all… You know how I get…"

Mac frowned, but nodded. Usually Jack plus low blood sugar equaled a grumpy Jack, but the man could also lose a bit of color. But now it was different, Jack wasn't grumpy. He was just pale.

"You sure you're okay?"

"Mhmm!" Jack nodded as he took a sip from his canteen, which he in some miraculous way had managed to open on his own.

They heard someone not too far behind them, and shared a look.

"Guess we better get going…" Mac said, putting the lid back on his canteen. "That or we're going to have some major problems."

Jack nodded, and tightened the lid on his canteen too.

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They were at the bottom of a waterfall when it happened.

Mac heard a thud behind him, he turned around and saw Jack face down in the mud.

"Ay! Jack?!" Mac called as he ran over to check on his friend. His mind was racing as he tried figuring out the reason why Jack had just collapsed. "Jack! Are you alright?"

He rolled his older friend over, and checked his eyes. Okay, no concussion… Not that Mac knew where his friend would have managed to get a concussion on this mission… Then he studied the man's breathing pattern. Strained, but fairly normal. He could work with that…

Mac started patting the man down, checking his hands for traces of whatever every now and then. Head, neck, right arm and side, left.

"DAMMIT! JACK!" Mac cussed as he saw the blood that had transferred to his hand. "You're hurt! And you didn't tell me?"

He wasn't really expecting an answer, but it would have been comforting.

Mac tore away the layers of clothes and exposed the wound.

"Really! YOU GOT SHOT!" Mac yelled down at his unconscious partner, still not expecting any answers. "YOU GOT SHOT, AND YOU ACTED LIKE NOTHING!"

He head someone speaking at the top of the hill.

"Shitty timing, old man!" He sighed, and looked around. There was nowhere to go.

Or maybe? Mac looked at the waterfall. It was worth a shot… Nothing to lose except their lives.

He grabbed Jack in a fireman's carry, and made their way over to the falling water. He ducked them under just in time to avoid getting caught by the crew following them.

The cold water was enough to bring Jack back to the land of the conscious again. He was thrashing around against Mac's grip under water. It took the man a couple of seconds after they hit the air pocket behind the waterfall, before he stopped.

"You got fucking SHOT!" Mac whispered threatening into Jack's ear. "You're supposed to tell me stuff like that!"

"Hey, go wash your mouth with soap, kid…"

"Shot, Jack!" Mac repeated, pressing his palm against the wound inflicting pain to prove his point. "You're incredibly stupid, YOU KNOW THAT? You actually amaze me sometimes!"

"Sorry?" Jack offered, pain seeping through to his voice.

"You better be!" Mac released Jack's shoulder. "Now, sit up and let me take a look at it! You know if it's a through and through?"

Jack shook his head, "Nope, no clue…"

"You know that rule? That I have to tell you when I get hurt?"

Jack frowned, and nodded reluctantly. He knew where this was headed.

"You do know that it goes both ways too? You also have to tell me! Just because your name is Jack, doesn't give you the right to be a complete jackass!" Mac whispered.

"Dude, you're scary when you're angry…" Jack groaned.

"You bet." Mac stared hard at Jack, before his expression softened. "How bad is it?"

"Don't think I've got a collarbone there anymore…" Jack winced, holding onto his left arm to offer the shoulder some support.

Mac pried back the shoulder strap and the fabric to get a better view of Jack's shoulder.

"Not gonna lie to you…" Mac sighed, "It looks awful…"

Jack nodded, "Feels awful…"

"Then WHY didn't you tell me?"

Jack looked over at Mac with an expression best described as puppy dog eyes.

"Jack…"

"I'm sorry, I thought I could power through it… Didn't want to make us have to stop…" Jack answered biting his lip.

"So you decided to go until you passed out and scared the crap outta me?" Mac challenged, "I need to remove your backpack to do something about that shoulder of yours. Actually, you shouldn't even be carrying a backpack…"

Jack smiled a crooked grin, "Guess I shouldn't…"

Mac rolled his eyes. "You think we can get it off without you making too much noise?"

Jack shook his head, "Not a chance…"

"Then we better wait…" Mac whispered back, keeping half an eye on the heavily armed crew walking around outside.

 **Okay, I'm going to have to break this up here… Because… Reasons…**

 **Hope you enjoyed!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello! And thanks for all the comments! Yay!**

The crew hunting them spent nearly 10 minutes near the waterfall. 10 minutes where Mac and Jack were sitting in the cold water behind the waterfall.

"Man, this sucks…" Jack whispered with a grimace after another shiver had run its course through his body, giving the injury at his shoulder the opportunity to make itself loud and clear.

"I know, buddy…" Mac whispered back, still keeping an eye on the 'hunters' as they were about to leave the valley outside. "But you should have told me…"

"Yeah… I know that…" Jack sighed, "Sorry…"

Mac brought his full attention back to Jack as the crew left over the ridge.

"Exactly how much noise do you think you will make if I remove your backpack?"

"I don't know…" Jack squeezed his eyes shut, "I'll probably scream…"

"Okay…"

"Or pass out…"

"Let's hope you pass out then…" Mac shrugged as he started loosening the straps so that it would be easier to guide Jack out. He didn't miss the small flash of terror which fled across his best friend's face.

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"Please don't…" Jack begged, "Man, it's going to hurt like…"

Jack was cut off right there, his plea was a little too late, and his general comfort was a little too far down on Mac's list of priorities for him to stop as he grabbed Jack's wrist and shoved it past the strap, freeing Jack from the backpack.

"SONOFABITCH!" Jack gasped, clutching his left arm with his right hand.

"Hey, look at that…" Mac cocked an eyebrow, "You didn't scream… And you didn't pass out…"

"Kid, I want to punch you so hard right now…" Jack confessed as he tried to fight a grimace off his face, before he went back to whimpering.

"Yeah, how about you get a raincheck on that one?" Mac offered as he unbuttoned Jack's shirt and pried it off him. Noting that there was an exit wound at the back of Jack's shoulder.

"I probably won't punch you…"

"Yeah, I know…" Mac huffed a laugh.

"How'd you know that?"

"Because you're always protecting me…" Mac shrugged.

"You know me too well kid…"

"If I knew you too well, I would have realized that you'd been shot a couple of miles ago…"

Jack flinched, and Mac wasn't sure if it was because of the physical injury, or because of his own tone. Maybe a mixture of both.

"Sorry…" Jack exhaled, as he dropped his chin to look at the hole in his t-shirt.

"It was a stupid choice not to tell me about this…" Mac gestured to the hole in the tee as he fished out his pocket knife with his other hand, "But if any one of us is supposed to say 'sorry' it should be me… So… I'm sorry, Jack…"

"For what?"

"For not realizing that you had been shot. For pushing us so hard…" Mac answered as he folded out the blade, "And for pushing down on your shoulder when I wanted you to know how incredibly stupid that act of yours was…"

"Yeah, that did hurt…" Jack frowned, "But it's all good…"

"No it's not…"

"Kid, I had it coming…" Jack sighed, "I deserved it…"

"No you didn't…" Mac scowled, "Now, you want me to cut away your t-shirt, or do you want to try to shrug it off…"

"I sure as hell don't want to shrug it off!" Jack growled, and swallowed hard.

"That's what I thought…" Mac nodded to himself and started cutting away the fabric near the shoulder.

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"Kid, please tell me it's cold in here…" Jack begged, as his body trembled yet another time.

"It is…" Mac answered fighting off a shiver himself, "But you being Captain Blood-loss doesn't help you at all…"

"But it is cold here? Right? It's not just me?"

"No, it's cold."

"Good…" Jack nodded and relaxed a little. "That's good…"

Mac cast another glance outside, calculating the pro's and the con's.

"But we need to get you dried up. I think this water is leading down from a glacier or something, the air temperature doesn't call for this cold water in any other way…"

Jack nodded, "I'm all for that… But what if the crew is just up there waiting for us to go out?"

Mac was about to answer when a violent shiver ran through Jack, causing the tough man's face to contort in pain.

"I say that's a risk we just might have to take… Because you're susceptible to hypothermia right now, and even I'm colder than I prefer in this water… We don't need to add to what's wrong with you right now…"

"No, but if we stay here, at least you'll be safe."

"Nonsense, I'll get hypothermia eventually if I stay here too… Might take me twice as long as you, but I need to get out of this water too…"

"Mac…"

"Jack, you've probably been in this water way longer than you should have already… And right now, I think I'm stronger than you… So you don't really have a say in this…" Mac explained, before he grabbed a hold of Jack and dragged him towards the bank of the river.

"SET ME DOWN!" Jack growled, trying to sound as menacing as he possibly could.

Mac only smirked, "You know, there is something about being carried that makes you look a whole lot less threatening…"

"SET. ME. DOWN."

"I will…" Mac grinned, and looked around.

"NOW…"

"Yeah-yeah…" Mac shrugged, and headed for a tree. Then he kneeled and set Jack down leaned up against it.

"I feel violated…"

"Well, if I remember correctly, one of your personal blood loss symptoms is losing balance and the ability to carry your own weight…" Mac truth-bombed, "Didn't want to see you injure yourself any further…"

Jack pouted, and scowled up at his blond partner. "That was one time!"

"Eight." Mac corrected.

"One, eight… Same shit…" Jack tried to justify.

"No, not the same…" Mac rolled his eyes, and started cutting off the rest of Jack's tee. "Undress… I'm going to fish out your backpack too… Find you a dry set of clothing from one of the waterproofs."

Jack didn't respond, so Mac continued.

"Go ahead, you've never been shy before…" Mac nudged Jack's knee with his boot. Then his brows creased together as he hunched down on his heels beside Jack. "Or are you hiding more?"

 **Okay! See you around!**


	3. Chapter 3

**So… Here we go again!**

"Not really…"

"Not really is not really an answer…" Mac sighed, almost in the manner of an exhausted parent. "It's bad, isn't it?"

"No, no… It's nothing…"

"Yeah, cause those words have never turned out to be lies before…" Mac shot back.

"It's really nothing…" Jack murmured, "It just looks like something…"

"Then, show me…"

"Looks way worse than it is…"

Mac scowled at his best friend.

"I'm telling you… It is NOTHING!"

"If it was nothing, then you would have showed me already…"

Jack grimaced as he started unbuttoning his pants. He did it singlehanded, his left arm wasn't in a condition where he was comfortable with using it. In fact, his left arm was crap.

"It's just a bruise…" Jack explained as he pulled the waist of his pants past his ass, shimmying it down along his thighs. "Nothing broken… Okay?"

"Crap, Jack!" Mac gasped as Jack's right knee came into view, the one he hadn't tapped his boot into. "What did you do? Dislocate it?"

Jack shook his head, "No… I don't remember…"

"Did you land wrong when you dropped after the climb?"

"No, Mac… It happened back home…"

"Oh…" Mac rubbed his neck, "What happened?"

"I already said that I don't remember…"

"Okay, WHEN did it happen?"

"I was out having a couple of drinks with some old friends… The evening got a little bit wetter than I expected. It's really just a black spot…" Jack grimaced, "Woke up the next afternoon with a bruised and swollen knee."

"How do you know it's not anything serious?"

"Went to the doctor… They took X-rays. Nothing broken." Jack half-grinned.

"You actually went to the doctor?" Mac asked in shock, "Without anyone threatening you to do so?"

"I shouldn't have let you know that…" Jack whispered, mostly to himself. Then he raised his voice a little, "You do realize that it doesn't have to be really bad before I take a trip through the ER?"

"Okay? Cause I specifically remember you walking around with a broken arm for weeks, before you eventually re-fractured it and had to have surgery…"

Jack frowned, "You're not much better!"

"Yeah, when?"

"That time when you broke your shoulder, and didn't let the doctor check you out for hours."

"You were in surgery, because you had taken two bullets to the chest… I had to know how that went!"

"You do realize that my fate then didn't rely on you not having your shoulder checked?"

Mac nodded, "But I didn't want to miss it if they told us about any changes…"

"Yeah, and then you had to wait for a week before YOU could have surgery… Because it had swollen too much…"

"It wasn't because of waiting to see how your surgery went…"

"Okay? Then why didn't they fix your shoulder straight away…"

"Because reasons…"

"Oh, who's making non-answers now?" Jack tilted his head and glared up at Mac.

"It was because I had eaten less than two hours before…"

"Well, so had I…"

"Yeah, but again… You had one bullet which had entered the bottom of your lung and one right next to your aorta…" Mac said as he knelt down beside Jack's knee. "Jack… This knee looks like it's real painful too…"

"Nothing to worry 'bout…" Jack attempted with a not so credible smirk that turned out to look more like a grimace. "Just… It's bruised, okay…? It's not worse than that…"

Mac was busy adding up 2 and 2, and he kept on getting the same answer. "Wait… Is that knee the reason I've been up front during the whole mission? I can't remember walking behind you once!"

Jack frowned, because he knew he had been busted.

"Yeahmaybe."

"Come again…"

"Yeah… Okay, maybe…"

"Jackass…"

"-sorry?"

"Jack." Mac took a controlled breath, trying to calm himself down. "You shouldn't have been on this mission in the first place, right?"

"-Maybe…"

"I'll take that as a _yes_ …" Mac sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. "Has the knee been bothering you? –Answer truthfully."

"A little…"

"Okay, so you've been limping. Considerably… Behind my back… Right?"

"Not considerably…"

"If it weren't considerably, you would have just let me see and brushed it off like it was some old, long forgotten injury! One that acts up when there's a change in the weather or some crap like that!"

"Hey! Injuries can act up against changes in weather, that's not crap!" Jack justified.

"No, but the story would have been crap!" Mac whispered back. "What did you tear?"

"I didn't tear anything…"

Mac leveled his eyes to Jack's.

"I'm telling the truth! I didn't tear anything!"

"And this is me, telling you, that _WE_ both have enough experience with injuries of all crappy sorts to KNOW that something is probably torn inside your knee…" Mac delivered coldly. "Now, tell me… What is it?"

"Okay, truth? I don't know…"

"What? You don't know? But you went to the doctor?"

"They only took X-rays…"

Mac ran a hand through his hair in an attempt to not blow up over his friend's stupidity.

"They only took X-rays… That's just great…" He sighed, "You know how many other things you could have messed up? Huh? Patella tendon, cruciate ligaments, the collateral ligaments, meniscuses… You could also have a partial tear of your quadriceps, your hamstrings or your calf muscles… Or, they could have just missed the fracture…"

Mac stared hard at Jack for a few seconds before he sighed and pushed himself up to a standing position.

"Get undressed, I have to do something about that shoulder of yours… And then we need to get you into some dry clothes…"

"Sorry…"

"You are unbelievable… You know that?" Mac shook his head, "You're not hiding ONE injury from me… But TWO! We're on a mission! I need, NEED, to know stuff like that!"

"Kid, look… I didn't mean to…"

"I know you didn't, but you didn't think this through either!"

"Okay, well… I can't argue with that…"

 **Okay… I have to say that I'm sorry… I know that my updates are few and far between at the moment… Sorry…**

 **Hope you had fun reading this little chapter though…**


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, so one of you reminded me about this story and that you wanted to see a bit more of it. So, here I am.**

Mac was still kneeled down beside Jack's swollen knee. He had patched his shoulder up as good as their supplies allowed him.

"Jack, this looks awful."

"You've already said that kid…"

"Do you mind?" Mac asked as his hands hovered above the blue and swollen knee.

Jack took a deep breath, then nodded, "Go ahead."

First Mac clasped his hands around the sides of the knee joint, trying his best to ignore the fact that Jack stifled a shout.

"That hurts?" he asked and Jack nodded, "How bad?"

"Two or three notches worse than pressing down on a regular giant bruise." Jack answered through gritted teeth. "Don't think the knee liked that fall I obviously took before you pulled us into that ice water."

"It's worse than earlier?"

"Hell yeah." Jack nodded and sat a little straighter.

"Okay, I've got a few more things I want to try on your knee."

"Who am I to stop ya?"

Mac nodded and tested the stability of Jack's knee. "Hey, don't stabilize it with your muscles now…"

Looking up with disdain written all over his face Jack nodded, "Alright."

Once Mac felt that Jack's thigh and calf was a little softer under his palms he tried to shove the thigh and leg in different directions.

"That' .Good." Jack forced out, his eyes locked hard on how weird the joint moved under Mac's hands.

"No, you've obviously torn something." Mac frowned as he changed his grip and manipulated the joint in another kind of way.

The new way had Jack twisting and cussing in pain.

"Okay, so that hurts." Mac concluded after catching a glimpse of Jack.

"Thanks. For stopping." Jack growled out, breathing heavily.

"One more thing…" Mac squinted towards Jack, "Just one more thing, I promise."

Jack let his breath even out before he nodded.

Mac tested the movement in Jack's knee from side to side and frowned, "How did you even manage to walk out here?"

"I'm stubborn, remember?"

"Yeah, not to mention stupid at times. What were you thinking? My guess is that you've torn most of the things that keep the knee together from the inside. At least that's what these tests makes it feel like. I mean, I might be wrong about how messed up your knee is, but…"

"That wasn't very nice…" Jack grumbled and sat back against the tree behind him.

"Well, sorry. But you realize it was a stupid move?"

Jack nodded, "Yeah, didn't really think it through. Or, I thought it would be okay…"

"Well, it isn't." Mac sighed, "Can you still walk on it or did that last fall really do a number on your knee?"

"Think I can, just help an old man up, alright?" Jack nodded and extended his right arm.

"Just stay right there for a minute, let's get some dry clothes on first, then we start moving."

Jack nodded as Mac turned his back towards him to wade back into the water to get Jack's backpack too.

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Some minutes later they were both dressed in drier sets of clothing, and Mac was pleased to see at least some color had returned to Jack's face.

"How are you feeling buddy?"

"Like I should've stayed home." Jack growled as he was pulled to his feet.

He hopped around on his left foot for a couple of seconds before he stepped down on his right leg too. A concerned look flashed across his face as he put weight on it, it felt a little bit less steady than earlier that day, but he figured it was well enough to trust.

"How is it?"

"I'll be able to hobble along on it." Jack winced, "Might even manage to run a bit."

"Well, let's hope that won't be necessary." Mac said as he walked back to Jack's backpack, shoved all the wet clothes back in it and tossed it into the river.

"You're not carrying any extra weight from now on." Mac said as he turned around and saw Jack's slightly confused expression. "I took all the useful things and shoved them into my backpack."

"Appreciate it kid…" Jack drawled, "But I could've carried that pack for the rest if the trip."

"I know you'd be stubborn enough to try," Mac sighed, "that's why I got rid of it."

Jack rolled his eyes, but nodded. "Alright, which way?"

"We decide that when we get up from this ditch." Mac shrugged, "Figure out which way our former tail tracked, then we take a different route."

Jack nodded, "Alright, let's do that! We don't want to run into those guys."

Mac nodded, "Here, let me give you a shove back up the hill, you look like you need it."

"Thanks kid."

 **Okay, this will be it for this chapter. Hope you enjoyed it.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, hope you're enjoying yourselves. I am.**

"Stop-stop!" Jack panted, "I need a break."

He had barely finished the request when he let go of Mac and sunk down next to a big rock. Grimacing as he used his left leg to stretch his right out in front of him. His right hand was supporting his left arm, which was already supported by a sling.

"How are you feeling big guy?" Mac asked as he kneeled down beside him.

"Need a break." Jack just repeated, leaning his head back against the large rock.

"Is it worse?"

Jack made a feeble attempt at shaking his head, before he changed his mind and nodded instead.

"Leg or shoulder?"

"Knee." Jack grimaced, "Knee's a lot worse. Shoulder's just bad."

"Can you walk any further?"

Jack drew a deep breath and hitched up his right shoulder. "Not at this tempo."

"Not even with me as support?"

Jack shook his head, "I can go slowly. But I'm talking real slow buddy…"

"Real slow?"

"Glacier pace…" Jack hitched a breath as he attempted to move his leg into a more comfortable position, only to realize that there weren't any.

"What if we place some sort of splint around your knee?" Mac offered hopefully. "If it's sturdy."

"Might move up to tortoise speed then…"

"Still slow but better…" Mac sighed and started looking for some sticks or small branches that would be suitable for an improvised splint.

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"How about that?" Mac asked as he stood back up after fixing Jack's knee in position with a couple of bent 2-foot long pieces of wood and a few bandanas.

"Nice touch with the bend at the knee." Jack almost chuckled.

"Yeah, I thought it would be a good idea to have your knee bent. Then you won't have to strain so much to keep it off the ground. Not sure it's gonna work according to plan, but…"

"-You never are. Right."

Mac nodded.

"Alright, help me up kid." Jack requested, "Let's get the hell out of Dodge."

Mac chuckled, "Alright cowboy… Ready for another couple of clicks?"

"Ready to attempt at least." Jack nodded.

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Every little movement felt like some thing or the other was ripping off inside his leg. Something was definitely wrong in there, you didn't need to be MacGyver to figure that one out.

Every jump he had to make seemed to shoot electricity through his knee. But it was still better than before Mac tied it up for him.

Every damn heartbeat added what seemed pounds of pressure to his leg injury and seemed to stab at the GSW by his shoulder.

Misery. That was the only way to describe what he was feeling now. Pure misery.

He tried his best to remember a time when he had felt worse than he did now. But he couldn't.  
Well, maybe. He knew of a few times he'd woken up in some random hospital bed with a concussion and a list as long as his arm of other injuries. Those times had been pretty miserable too.

He sucked in a sharp breath that had Mac stalling.

"You're alright?" Mac's deep voice washed over him.

He shook his head and let out a tired sigh, "Nah… Kid…"

"Think you can make it five more minutes?"

Jack shook his head again.

"We've got to find a hiding spot then…" Mac sighed, "If we can't keep going we'll have to find some place to hunker down until we're ready to move again."

"Judging by how it feels right now, that could be days." Jack growled, "You should just leave me somewhere. Come back for me once everything's safe."

"Hey. Leave no man behind. Remember that line?"

Jack nodded, "But we're both on a different level now. And you know that in this league, finishing the mission comes first."

Mac let out an exasperated breath, then he looked directly at Jack. "You know you'd never do that if the roles were reversed."

Jack didn't answer. Just looked down at his boots.

"You're not even denying it."

"You know me too well, can we just settle at that."

"Only if we settle on not splitting up either."

"I'll let you know what your biggest bargaining chip is right now…"

"Oh yeah?"

"Setting me down. That's your biggest bargaining chip at the moment." Jack ground out, "Preferably within the next two minutes."

"Alright, see those large rocks over there?" Mac asked and pointed with his free hand, "Can you make it over there?"

"-If I get to lay down afterwards…" Jack gasped, "Leg up and all…"

"You've got it buddy." Mac nodded.

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"Easy. EASY." Mac repeated as he helped lower Jack to the ground. "Easy… I know it hurts buddy… I'm sorry…"

Jack was too busy to cuss and sputter ugly words to really notice how Mac tried to comfort him.

It took him six minutes before he was able to think about _anything_ else than the throbbing pain in his leg or the shooting pain in his shoulder.

He had barely noticed that Mac had helped him into the least uncomfortable position he could find, with his right leg propped up on an inflated, but empty waterproof sack and his head rested on one that was less inflated.

He hadn't noticed that Mac had managed to place him on top of a sleeping mat, or that he had strung a tarp over them and covered it with dead leaves judging by the shadows that he saw from the underside.

"How are you feeling, old man?"

"Like an old man…" Jack frowned, "When did you do all this?"

"You blacked out for a short minute." Mac answered with a concerned glance at him, "Figured I should use the time to make you comfortable."

"Thanks kid." Jack smiled and took as deep a breath as he dared, "I appreciate it."

 **Okay, I hope you're enjoying this so far. I've got to say thanks for all the response to the last chapter. It warms my heart!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Okay, so… Let's post another one, huh? Y'all up for that?**

"How are you holding up?" Mac asked as he opened up the canteen for Jack and held it out for him.

"Like I'm gonna remember this mission for a long, long time." Jack grimaced as he grabbed the canteen with his right hand and took a swig. "It isn't getting any better…"

"Hmmm?"

"Everything." Jack cleared his voice, "Leg, shoulder… It isn't getting any better…"

"Okay… Anything I can do for you?"

"That waterproof is getting awfully flat…" Jack answered with a sound of discomfort.

"Want me to fill it up with air again for you?"

Jack nodded, "Please."

Mac nodded, and was about to guide Jack's leg off the improvised pillow when the older man interrupted him.

"One more thing," Jack bared his teeth, "I need you to go. Bring some help back with you."

"I can't leave you."

"You might have to…" Jack closed his eyes, "I'm in no shape to walk the rest of the way outta here. And we're in a generally bad position."

"We've been worse."

Jack nodded, "Yeah. I know."

"So we don't split up." Mac insisted.

"We're low on rations, my leg's out of order, my shoulder is likely to contract an infection or something. Pretty soon I might get sepsis and that's a whole 'nother can of worms. At least if you go now, I'm strong enough to aim and shoot my gun. The hard truth is that I might not be able to do so _when_ you'll have to leave me behind to get rescue for me. OKAY? UNDERSTAND?"

There was silence. Long, uncomfortable silence.

Jack knew Mac understood when he saw the light in his eyes change and his jaw tighten.

"Understand?" he repeated and Mac nodded.

"Yeah, I understand." Mac sighed, "Don't like it though."

"So you'll go?" Jack asked with a sliver of hope in his eyes.

"After I gather enough wood to last you for three or four days." Mac drew his brows close together, "Jack. I really don't like the idea of this."

"Better now than later." Jack bit out, "And you know that's where this is headed either way. Even if you're hesitant to admit it."

"Alright. Okay. You're making sense." Mac bit out pinching the bridge of his nose. "Why does always the best planned and so called easiest missions always go sideways in a hurry?"

"Because they're planned." Jack drawled, "Or that guy you've mentioned a few times… The one with the law. Morty… Matthew… Something on M."

"Murphy?"

"Yeah, that dude." Jack nodded, "He's a real SOB…"

"That's for sure…" Mac agreed.

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"You've got everything you need?" Mac asked, giving Jack another onceover.

"Maybe fill some more air in that thing again." Jack winced, "It's only a little deflated now, but you'll be gone for a while. And I want to postpone having my leg flat on the ground for as long as possible."

Mac nodded, "Maybe if I fill it up with shrubs? Maybe that will help with the situation?"

Jack pulled his good shoulder up in an one-sided shrug, "Maybe, I'm not the genius here, remember?"

Mac let out a short laugh, then he nodded, "We'll test it."

Jack nodded.

"You ready?" Mac asked with his hands hovering an inch or two away from Jack's leg. Jack nodded hesitantly. "Slow and easy…"

Jack nodded again. Mac slid one hand in under the knee and the other one under the ankle, frowning at how Jack stiffened up as soon as his fingers came in contact with Jack's leg.

"Is this fine?" Mac asked after he had laid Jack's right leg over his left, "Can I place it like this until I'm finished with gathering shrubs and stuff to fill the bag with?"

Jack nodded, but his lips were pressed into a thin line and he was holding his breath for the moment.

"Sure?"

Jack nodded again, but didn't relax one bit.

"Okay, I'll be back as soon as I can, alright?"

"Yeah." Jack gasped, "I'll be here."

Mac nodded, picked up the army green bag and hurried away.

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"Think I gathered enough. It's about ¾ full, so it won't be hard packed when the air goes out, but it'll be enough to elevate your leg. How are you holding up buddy?"

"Busy thinking happy thoughts…" Jack admitted, "Are you ready to get that throbbing nightmare a little bit higher again?"

"Is it worse?"

Jack nodded, "Mostly because having my leg this way puts a tiny bit of pressure on something in my knee."

Mac nodded.

"And kid, I've gotta tell you… My knee's not happy about it." Jack's voice was trembling when he admitted it, leaving Mac wonder just how bad it was.

"Okay, let's get it back up again." Mac decided as he placed the bag next to Jack's legs. "Ready?"

Jack nodded and squeezed his eyes shut, "Go ahead."

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"Okay, you've got your leg up, you've got your sleeping bag and the spare emergency blanket. Are you warm enough?"

Jack nodded, "Yeah."

"You've got a bit of food and water that should last you up to three days."

"Mac, you know this is enough food to stretch out for two weeks considering how little I'll be able to move." Jack held up an MRE, "You should take more than one with you."

Mac shook his head, "If I need any more, I'll be able to gather it on my own. You can't move."

Jack nodded, "You've got a point there."

"Anything else you need?"

"Could've used a few more bullets if that gang decides to crash my one-man party, but other than that I should be alright."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that." Mac frowned, "You good?"

Jack nodded, "As good as I can be, considering how much all of this hurts."

Mac frowned, then he nodded. "Hey, I'll be back with a rescue squad as soon as I can, alright."

"I know kid, I know…" Jack nodded and held his good hand up for a fist bump, "You know I trust you."

Mac pressed his lips hard together and nodded, "Yeah, I know. Jack, I'm so sorry for all this."

"Don't be, kid." Jack smirked against the pain, "Even sat-phones aren't safe from when you need to invent something. It's like you said, I probably shouldn't have been on this mission in the first place."

Mac nodded, "Yeah, that was also kinda stupid…"

Jack nodded, "Hey, nothing we can do about it now."

Mac ran his hands through his hair, then he stood up, "Well, one thing… I can go and find someone to get your ass out of this mess."

"Keep safe."

"You too, old man…" Mac tipped a short nod to him, before he headed off in the direction of the nearest town.

 **Okay. That was today's chapter. Hope you liked it.**

 **I know it might have been a pretty drastic change from the last chapter, with the whole leaving Jack behind to get help for him part, but I also think the story kinda needed it. *shrugs***

 **And before I forget it, thank you all so much for the kind and awesome comments. You guys are awesome!**


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